Algeria – President promises constitutional reform

Algeria is another country that has been caught up in the ‘Arab spring’. There have been demonstrations and there have also been attempts to quell the unrest by the security services. Anyway, the most recent attempt to try to manage the situation came on Friday with a 20-minute televised speech by President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

The text of the speech is available in French here. In it, President Bouteflika tried to reassure the country that more social measures would be taken. As in Tunisia, the demonstrations have been at least partly motivated by the economic difficulties that certain sections of the population are experiencing.

In the speech, President Bouteflika also promised a process of constitutional reform. There were few details, but he said that he would be asking parliament to revise the constitution to make it more democratic. He seemed to focus on making the system more representative, referring specifically to a reform of electoral laws and a reform of the law on political parties. A constitutional commission was proposed to examine the necessary reforms.

There is a relatively plural press in Algeria. There is a nice report here that addresses the range of reactions that the speech has received. They go from disappointment, to limited approval, to unequivocal support.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *